UTSA practice No. 3, 09/12

Some random thoughts/observations from Sunday’s practice, which was long, hot and physical.

* I would not want to tick off strength and conditioning coach Charle Dudley. He was in full-on intense mode just in warmups, calling out Brandon Armstrong for loafing and making the team re-do several drills.

* The tempo and intensity was much better than Thursday’s practice, when the team was noticeably dragging. Granted, after two days away from the field, it should have been. But even though head man Larry Coker criticized the team’s overall conditioning/focus again, he also acknowledged Sunday was an improvement.

* Part of the reason was the continued urgency from the UTSA staff. Offensive coordinator Travis Bush said before workouts started that he and his colleagues would coach this freshmen-heavy team like veterans, and they weren’t joking. I saw or heard every assistant but defensive line coach Eric Roark go off in some capacity, and perhaps the only reason it wasn’t a clean sweep is because Roark’s group was in the furthest corner of the field from where they let me stand.

* Coker singled out quarterback Kam Jones and Cole Hubble for their touch on deep balls to Marcellus Mack and Earon Holmes. When Jones gets work in the slot with the latter two receivers, you can see the potential for a really good receiving core. He said also liked defensive tackle Ferrington Macon’s work during one-on-one pass rush drills.

* The guy who stood out most to me was linebacker John Walker. He racked up an insane amount of tackles in high school at Humble, and you can see why when you keep an eye on him. The guy just has a knack for the football. He was right in the thick of everything during full-contact run drills, and he had an interception in 7-on-7. Combined with Brandeis graduate Cody Rogers, and linebacker is another potential area of strength.

* The offense looked a little bit ahead of the defense during a series of full plays at the end of practice. There was one series of plays where Jones hit Mack on a nice swing pass, David Glasco II broke a long run down the sideline and Hubble scrambled for a decent gain. Getting back to the point about urgency, it was during that stretch that offensive coordinator Travis Bush went off on his unit for not breaking the huddle with enough purpose.